Police fail parents who babies died in alleged negligence incident, more ‘victims’ come forward

Read More

The police in the Western Cape turned away a grieving couple wanting to report an unregistered midwife whose alleged negligence caused the death of their twins in February. 

When the parents eventually received a case number, they were told that the initial statement they submitted was lost. 

In April, Mail & Guardian reported on so-called radical birthkeeper Caitlyn Collins, whose alleged negligence caused the death of twins, Kweli and Kwesi. The parents of the babies, Ernie Chirwa and Chifundo Bingala, reported Collins to the Kirstenhof police station in Cape Town last week. 

Colonel Andrè Traut, spokesperson for police in the province, previously told the M&G that a case against Collins could be opened “for a contravention of section 31(1) and (4) read with section 31(11) of the Nursing Act, 33 of 2005 for practising as a midwife without the proper registration and making use of the title of midwife without the proper registration”.

But after police took a statement from Chirwa and Bingala, they were told the case was a “first of a kind” and that officers would come back to them on what would happen next. Shortly thereafter, the officer who assisted the couple took leave. 

The police were unable to explain why Chirwa and Bingala could not register a criminal case. Traut said the parents should go to the station to lodge a complaint “for the failure to provide proper feedback and to assist them to register a criminal case”. 

“An internal investigation will reveal what has transpired on the day of their visit to the station so that remedial steps can be instituted,” he added. 

After the M&G’s inquiry, Chirwa and Bingala received confirmation that a case was registered on 13 May. Soon thereafter, they were notified that the police had lost their initial statement, given on 5 May. 

By Friday 20 May, Chifundo told the M&G that police were yet to take new statements.  

More claims of negligence

While this plays out, more parents have come forward alleging negligence by Collins and her colleague, Ruth Ehrhardt.  

Amy Dhalech told the M&G that under the care of Collins, she had experienced a normal breastfeeding problem resulting in her baby not drinking a sufficient amount of milk for two days. Collins mistook it for meningitis. She told the first-time parents that meningitis could lead to their baby’s death within a few hours. 

Dhalech said it was only after reading the M&G article about the death of the twins that she realised her experience may not have been her fault.  

She and her newborn underwent unnecessary hospital procedures two days after giving birth in 2016 under the guidance of Collins, she alleges.   

At the time, she and her husband Aadil voiced their disappointment with Collins’s service in an email to the self-proclaimed midwife. In response, Collins emphasised what an “amazing woman” Dhalech was, and how she was “most willing to go into anything in more detail if you wish”. 

Without making a formal complaint or reporting Collins to the police, the parents settled the amount of about R30 000 they owed Collins for her service and declined further communication.  

“The guilt that you feel, you can’t voice the experience. As parents, we have a lot of shame and trauma. I did not have the strength to sue her,” said Dhalech. 

Rocky and Marshé Abrahams also allege negligence at the hands of Collins and Ehrhardt’s former midwifery venture known as Circle of Elephants. 

Abrahams’ boy was born on 8 July 2021 during a traumatic home birth, for which paramedics had to be called in. 

During postnatal visits, the parents told Collins the infant was not gaining weight. Collins assured them that as long as the baby eats, urinates and defecates “he is fine”. 

Not convinced, the parents took the baby to a doctor. A month later, he was diagnosed with liver failure. He spent over a month in intensive care at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.  

At the time the baby was in hospital, Collins sent messages to the Abrahams’ and reminded them of outstanding payments estimated at R3 000. That was on top of the already R25 000 paid. 

The father refused to pay Collins the outstanding fee, and instead told her he was going to sue Circle of Elephants for negligence because the midwives did not refer them to the hospital during postnatal examinations. 

In messages seen by M&G, Collins and Ehrhardt responded to the parents’ threat of a lawsuit as follows: “We would like to offer you a face to face Zoom session, with or without a facilitator. To discuss and talk over any issues you may have, with the intention of finding a way forward that supports you … We truly wish to find a healing way forward.”

The parents declined the offer and did not take any further action.

“We were trying to get out of hospital and take care of our son. It was not worth our energy,” said Marshé, adding that knowing now about the deaths of the twins, “justice needs to be served”. 

Chirwa and Bingala are meeting three other parents this week to add their statements regarding negligence by Collins and Ehrhardt to that of their own. 

State hospital seeks legal advice

The Western Cape health department is seeking legal advice after alleged negligence at its Mowbray Maternity Hospital in Cape Town, after the facility failed to report alleged medical misconduct in June 2021 by Collins and Ehrhardt.

Mowbray hospital, which delivers between 850 and 900 babies a month, became aware of two cases in which women ended up at the hospital after choosing home births under the care of Collins and Ehrhardt. In both cases, the infants died.

After the deaths of Chirwa and Bingala’s twins, the doctor who treated Chirwa at Mowbray hospital told them they were not the first parents who lost infants under Collins’s care. 

The doctor who referred M&G’s inquiry to the hospital’s chief executive initially reported Collins to the same chief executive in June 2021. 

According to the provincial department of health, Collins and Ehrhardt were told to stop operating as midwives and to “address” their non-registered statuses after the doctor’s report in June 2021. 

But Collins did not stop practising midwifery; she was acting as a midwife to the Abrahams. 

Collins, who has for years called herself a midwife, is not registered with any professional body. In documents seen by the M&G, Collins refers to herself as a “certified professional midwife” and “registered traditional midwife”. 

Collins and Ehrhardt completed an online course at the North American Registry of Midwives called the Certified Professional Midwife. This credential is not recognised by the South African Nursing Council (SANC). 

According to Christopher Tsatsawane, head of corporate affairs at the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), Collins and Ehrhardt violated the Health Professions Act No 56 of 1974, when they performed “professional acts which are defined/reserved for registered practitioners”. 

“As such, the person should be reported to the HPCSA for urgent intervention,” said Tsatsawane. 

Additionally, he said, the HPCSA’s ethical rule 25 “places this obligation on all registered person[s], as the entity under direct jurisdiction, to report as soon as they are aware of such conduct”. 

Mowbray hospital has an ethical role to uphold when it is made aware of any medical misconduct, irrespective of the practitioner being registered to a health authority or not. 

“The healthcare institutions have regulations, conditions, standards and codes which bind them to conduct themselves in certain matters, and such standards and codes may be sought from Office Of Healthcare Standards as the relevant entity to advise on such matters,” said Tsatsawane. 

Vusumuzi Nhlapho, chief executive of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) points out that according to section 31(11) of the Nursing Act it is an offence to practise or promote yourself as a midwife without being registered. Doing so could lead to a fine or imprisonment. 

But “there is no statutory duty to report unregistered practitioners by hospitals, practitioners etc,” said Nhlapo; even if there was no statutory duty, “a common-law and ethical duty would still exist”. 

“Failure to report such an individual … may open you up to civil and criminal liability, depending on the circumstances. These individuals should have been reported to the Nursing Council and police.”

But according to Sizo Mchunu, the chief executive at the SANC, the council is limited to people who are registered with them.

“The Nursing Act does not create a positive legal obligation with any party to report any unprofessional conduct of practitioners to the SANC.

“Nurses and midwives who are registered with the SANC can be reported to the SANC. If someone is not registered with the SANC and is practising, it is a criminal offence and must be reported to SAPS [South African Police Service].”

Adele van der Walt, an attorney specialising in medical law, agrees with the SANC. She says it is a “two-way road” in that the parents decided to use the midwife. The obligation lies with the parents to report the matter to the police.